


Challenge

by minniessimp



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cats, F/F, Shuhua is a town girl, Soojin is a Princess, kingdom au, sooshu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29323344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minniessimp/pseuds/minniessimp
Summary: Soojin creates a challenge for the person she's going to marry.
Relationships: Seo Soojin/Yeh Shuhua
Comments: 9
Kudos: 90





	Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Royalty AU? Kinda yeah! (This isn't proofread. If any mistakes, please ignore LMAO.)

"As you may know, Princess Soojin is set to be crowned queen of the palace in the following months," The old king spoke and the large crowd before the royal family let out a cheer. "However, it is my very wish to see my daughter get married to a good suitor, with any background, before I let her take over my pace and lead us into further greatness."

Soojin nods along to her dad's words, ready to listen to her mother's. "We want to give everyone a chance to participate in this exciting journey for we have created a challenge for anyone to participate in which will ultimately get you our daughter's hand in marriage." 

"The princess herself has chosen this challenge specifically," The queen looks back at her daughter, signaling her it was time for her to speak to the crowd herself, "Princess?"

Soojin sighs and gives herself a small nod before walking forward on the stand, the crowd was cheering as if she was just about to perform, so she cleared her throat and began speaking. "The challenge is quite simple; you must catch my lovely friend here," Soojin motions to Beauty, her beautiful black cat, who was being held by the king, "And acquire this key from the necklace around her." 

The princess goes towards her cat, giving her a quick pat on her fluffy head before placing the necklace with the small key on it around her neck. Beauty was an inside and an outside cat so she knew her way around, however, she tended to be quite picky, much like her owner, when it came to letting people around her. Soojin was positive Beauty wouldn’t let her down. “If acquired, come to the kingdom and the key will open a small chest that will hold the rings for whomever and I’s marriage.” 

_____

“Are you sure we’re allowed to be here?” Miyeon asked, nervously tugging at the length of her dress as they made their way further along the walls of the palace. 

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s fine?” Shuhua groaned, her eyes not leaving the long rows of flowers along the ground. “Do you want to give Minnie-unnie some pretty flowers or not?” 

Miyeon let out a sigh, “I do… How did you find this place, anyway?” 

Shuhua hummed, thinking about the first time she stumbled into the gardens of the palace. “When we were around 11, you and I were playing hide and seek. I was just running trying to find a place to hide and ended up here but I thought it wasn’t allowed either. That is, till I kept coming back and no one was ever around, so.”

The older girl nodded understandingly. Shuhua was very adventurous, more than anyone she knew actually, so she was bound to find cool places on her own. That was what was very likable about the raven, she always wanted to explore and cross boundaries for fun while still taking responsibility if needed. “That’s very expected from you.” 

Soon enough, the girls were standing on a spot surrounded by all sorts of flowers, trees, and a lake. Such nature was very common in the kingdom, but places with a lake tended to always be crowded by younger kids playing. “Okay, wow. I didn’t expect it to be this pretty here.”

“I will kill you if you bring anyone here other than Minnie,” Shuhua turns around to throw a quick glare at her older friend who just threw her hands up in defense while shaking her head. “I come here to read a lot… There’s actually a cat that is always here, too.” 

“A cat?” 

Shuhua took a seat on the warm grass, motioning to her friend to do the same. “Yeah. This really cute black cat with the brightest green eyes. She hasn’t been around much these days for some reason so I get sad.” 

Miyeon hummed and nodded, looking up to take in the sun that peeked through the tree-leaves. Then she realized something, “Uh Shuhua? What if it’s the princess’ cat?” 

“The princess has a cat?” 

Of course, Shuhua didn’t know about the news going around. “Yeah and apparently everyone’s trying to catch it to marry the princess.” 

Shuhua scrunched her face, confused and sort of mad as to how that was supposed to work. “She’s putting her cat in danger to be caught so someone will marry her? What logic is that?” 

“No, no… Ugh, why can’t you go to royal presentations like a normal person!” Miyeon groaned. “If someone catches the cat, there is a necklace on her with a key that will open a case the Princess has that contains rings for marriage. It’s almost time for her coronation and she has to get married first but has no suitor and she came up with the plan herself.” 

That made more sense; not really. Shuhua couldn’t help but feel sour at the royal family still putting an innocent animal in danger for something as stupid as marriage. It’s not that she had anything against the royal family, but she didn’t really agree with some of their customs like marriage before being able to become the head-royal. “That’s stupid. I hope the cat chews the necklace off.” 

  
  


Miyeon let out a laugh at her friend’s silly response. Little did she knew Shuhua was planning something for the next time she went to her secret spot, she just had to wait till she saw the pretty cat again. 

_____

Soojin couldn’t stop thinking about having her feline companion out in the open all day and only seeing her at night. She knew Beauty was very independent even while in the palace, but having her out in the town was worrying her a lot, especially now since all everyone wanted to do was catch her. She wasn’t even worried about marrying who was to catch her; divorce was common in royal families. Thankfully her parents never went through that, but she wasn’t afraid to do so. 

When her family announced the challenge to the townsfolks, she couldn’t help but feel a tad bit objectified. Her involvement in creating the challenge was quite minimal, she simply suggested Beauty was the one with the key and not just some random animal as tradition to this certain situation is used. She trusted her feline friend as she tended to not let just anyone touch her. At first, Soojin thought she was just spoiled, as she should, but she was actually a really good judge of character when it came to people. 

“Has anyone come yet?” 

Soojin turned towards her bedroom door at the familiar voice asking her. It was Soyeon, her distant cousin that was visiting for the months remaining for her marriage and coronation. She was slightly bit younger than Soojin but overly intelligent for her age. 

The elder shook her head, sighing and looking out of her grand window. “Not yet… I don’t know if I want someone to actually come or not.” 

“This might take longer than expected,” Soyeon said stretching before throwing herself on her cousin’s bed, “That cat of yours is so sneaky. It would take anyone that’s not us _days_ to catch her.” 

“That’s why I love her,” Soojin smiles like a proud mother, “Why are you here though? Shouldn’t you still be sleeping with your beloved?”

Soyeon scoffed, shoving her cousin with her foot making her yelp. “I’ve been awake for the past two hours. Only you and Yuqi sleep until one in the afternoon. I swear you two are more alike than we are.” 

The princess laughed and shook her head. Her cousin was so open about her relationship with another girl and it always warmed her heart. It was sort of a shock when she found out who Soyeon was dating, as it was to the rest of the family, but thankfully no one saw it as a negative thing. It was obvious they didn’t as Soojin’s own marriage could be with anyone that got a hold of the key. “I love my new bestie.” 

_____

Shuhua had spent many hours the following two days looking for a certain black cat behind the palace. She wasn’t sure if she had been caught yet, but there was a huge possibility she hadn’t, or else it would’ve been big news. Which was good since she wanted to catch her herself and teach the princess a lesson. 

However, it wasn’t till the fourth day that she saw the pretty cat again. 

Shuhua was sitting on the warm grass once again reading her current favorite ‘Utopia’ by Sir Thomas More when she felt something soft brush against her leg. Looking away from the endless words in her hands, her eyes landed on a certain dark ball of fluff, curling herself at the length of Shuhua’s legs. “There you are you pretty thing.” 

The cat looked up, her bright green eyes shining with the sun, and inched closer to Shuhua’s free hand. The raven instantly reached to pet the soft cat who purred as she massaged her little head. Shuhua couldn’t help but thankfully notice she was still wearing the small necklace around her neck. How was it possible no one had caught the little feline yet with how friendly she seemed to be. “Let’s get you back home little one.”

_____

Soojin let out a loud laugh as she watched her cousin and her girlfriend playfully argue with each other over who was to wear what dress during the coronation. The three of them were aimlessly walking around the castle as there was nothing to really do. No one had come forward with Beauty and key and, quite frankly, Soojin was getting very weird as her cat had not gone home to sleep for the last two days. She assumed she was caught the first day but no one had shown up the next morning with her and by the second day she was about ready to go insane. 

Thankfully Soyeon and Yuqi were around to calm her down or else she would’ve gone out to look for Beauty herself and call the entire challenge off. She could only imagine all the obstacles her poor cat had gone through to escape being caught by random people. She knew her parents were getting frustrated about no one showing up and catching up on why Soojin chose Beauty to take part in the challenge in the first place, but she didn’t care it was her future anyway and they said it was up to her. 

“Are you still sad about Beauty?” Yuqi asked her friend when she noticed how in-thought she had suddenly gotten. 

“Yeah,” the princess sighed, running a hand through her long brown locks, “I just don’t know why she’s not home yet. I don’t even care about the stupid key anymore, I swear.” 

“Uhm, I don’t think you’ll have to be sad any longer,” Soyeon said, making her girlfriend and cousin look at her confused. The short girl simply pointed her finger at the palace gate doors, “Look.” 

_____

Shuhua made her way around to the front gates of the palace with the cat in her hands like a baby and her book tucked away in her tote bag. She had to admit the small creature was so cute and actually fun to play with, unlike the cats that are usually out on the street. She was more of a dog person, clearly since she had two puppies at home, but honestly, the feline in her hands was making her have second thoughts about probably getting a cat. “I’m going to give your mommy a piece of my mind.” 

She didn’t really know what she was going to say to the princess but she sure as hell wasn’t going to hold back. It was still very stupid of whosever idea it was to send a poor cat to practically be hunted by a bunch of weirdos out there to be let into the royal family and she wasn’t going to stand for any of it. 

In no time at all, Shuhua was standing in front of the tall palace front gate, pulling at them to open and that was when she noticed a specific girl she was able to recognize as the princess. “Hey, you!” 

Soojin had been in many weird situations despite her royal status. But never in her life had she ever been yelled at by a town girl about her own pet and how she apparently put it in danger. That’s exactly the current situation she was in though and to add to it, her cousin and her girlfriend were witnessing the entire thing. 

“How can someone be so insensitive?!” Shuhua loudly asked the princess, who was too in-shock to even reach over and open the gate. “Someone could’ve killed her! If she’s your pet, then you should be taking care of her and not sending her to do dirty work for something so stupid!” 

Soyeon quickly noticed how taken-back her cousin seemed to be, so she took the problem into her own hands and did the unexpected, “Look, ma’am, we understand your concern. But if you could please calm down and come inside so we can discuss this matter more calmly, we would really appreciate that.” 

Shuhua let out a breath of anger but instantly calmed down as the cat, that was now sitting on her shoulder like a parrot, lightly licked her cheek. “Okay, but I will still voice my opinion no matter who you’ll make me talk to.” 

And that was exactly what Shuhua did. She was now sitting in a huge office with the cat, who she learned was actually named Beauty, still in her arms and the royal family in front of her as she rambled away about how irresponsible they were. 

“You seem to have very strong opinions,” the King said after he cleared his throat, glancing nervously at his wife and daughter. How could someone so small looking be filled with such anger? 

“Of course I do!” The raven continued her speech, “With all due respect sir, have you actually looked out on the streets of the town? There are many abandoned animals left and right that practically eat each other because they don’t have homes due to people being irresponsible and stupid. It’s just not fair that they get thrown out like rubbish and you guys willingly put your pet out in danger for no valid reason!” 

Soojin was nervously playing with her fingers as she listened to Shuhua speak. It wasn’t because she was ashamed of being guilty of what she was saying, but the girl sitting in front of them was easily the most beautiful girl she had ever laid her eyes on even along with all the other royals she had met in her life. Sadly, she seemed to have a bad impression of her. 

“I truly understand where you’re coming from, miss. But you have to understand that this was done for the sake of the future of the kingdom, not just as a wrong-doing from us,” Even the king had taken notice of how unpleased the young girl seemed to be, “Are you aware as to why Beauty was out in the town on her own?”

“Yes, and I don’t really care. I’m simply here to let you know how dangerous it was to let this beautiful creature out alone by herself.” 

This time the queen spoke, noticing how no one seemed to want to stand up to the small girl whose cheeks she literally just wanted to pinch. “Look, honey, right now you’re carrying something very important not only to the princess but to the entire kingdom. How were you able to catch Beauty?” 

“I didn’t ‘catch’ her,” Shuhua emphasized on the catching part, “What are you talking about, ma’am?”

“If you know what Beauty is out and about for then you must have known how important it was to catch her,” This time Soojin spoke. She couldn’t help but have a sort of attitude as she did which she instantly regretted by the look Shuhua and even Soyeon and Yuqi gave her. “No one else had been able to catch her so It must have been you that had her captive the last couple of days.” 

Shuhua stood up from the chair, Beauty jumping out of her arms to go over to her owner. “I had no part in participating in the silly challenge you sent Beauty on whatsoever! As I had previously stated, I don’t care, however, I had interacted with Beauty even before this was going on and was worried when she hadn’t shown up to where I usually see her too which is why when she did today, and learned about what was happening, I brought her back!” 

At that point, Soojin was completely blown away by the seemingly younger girl. She still stood her ground and that was quite admirable in such a situation.

However, the princess wasn’t sure about what her parents were planning on doing. They hadn’t come up with a backup plan if someone was to reject the entire challenge. Not to add how she mentioned she had previously interacted with Beauty. 

The king too was in shock, however, he saw it more as an opportunity. “We truly understand where you’re coming from, Young one, but are you willing to go through with the challenge that you have unknowingly won?” 

Shuhua cocks an eyebrow up, “No? I thought it was obvious.” 

“Understandable,” the king nods his head, sending a small smile at his daughter, “But look at it like this: If you are willing to marry Princess Soojin, you will become a royal and have a say on the matter of animals being abandoned on a high status.” 

“I’m sorry, are you trying to _bribe_ me?” 

“My father is correct,” Soojin joined. She was heavily intrigued with the young girl before them speaking her mind with no filter. “If you marry me, I, and my entire family, will support you in making better laws regarding household animal companions and their abandonment.” 

Shuhua had to sit back down at what the royal family seemed to be offering her. She was supposed to just give away her chance of getting in a real relationship and jump straight into marriage because she wants to stop people from being complete assholes? She had to admit, it wouldn’t be a bad deal to go through, as she had many ideas on how to improve in the kingdom, but she had a lot to put at risk. “I… I don’t know what to say. This is a big commitment.” 

“Yes, but think of all the good you would be doing!” The queen said and the two girls that had apparently been standing behind Shuhua made sounds of agreement. 

“I’ll have to think about it, your majesties.” 

  
  



End file.
